Red Cliff, Du Mu (Tang Shi #290)
Saturday, 24 August 2019 13:00![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lnhammerA broken halberd sunk in sand, the iron not yet rusted:
I rub and scrub and see it’s from a prior dynasty.
If east winds hadn’t blown conveniently for Master Zhou,
Come spring Bronze Sparrow would have locked away the two Qiao sisters.
赤壁
折戟沈沙铁未销，
自将磨洗认前朝。
东风不与周郎便，
铜雀春深锁二乔。
Red Cliff on the south bank of the middle Yangzi was the site of a 208 battle at the end of the Han Dynasty that set the stage for the Three Kingdoms era. Zhao Yu, married to one of the two beautiful Qiao sisters, was a general opposing Cao Cao, who was notorious for keeping a large harem in Bronze Sparrow Terrace. The wind was used to blow fire ships into Cao Cao’s fleet.
(A rare explicit first-person pronoun, huzzah!) (Also, why do all the Three Kingdom poems seem to be by Dus?)
—L.
I rub and scrub and see it’s from a prior dynasty.
If east winds hadn’t blown conveniently for Master Zhou,
Come spring Bronze Sparrow would have locked away the two Qiao sisters.
赤壁
折戟沈沙铁未销，
自将磨洗认前朝。
东风不与周郎便，
铜雀春深锁二乔。
Red Cliff on the south bank of the middle Yangzi was the site of a 208 battle at the end of the Han Dynasty that set the stage for the Three Kingdoms era. Zhao Yu, married to one of the two beautiful Qiao sisters, was a general opposing Cao Cao, who was notorious for keeping a large harem in Bronze Sparrow Terrace. The wind was used to blow fire ships into Cao Cao’s fleet.
(A rare explicit first-person pronoun, huzzah!) (Also, why do all the Three Kingdom poems seem to be by Dus?)
—L.
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Date: 24 August 2019 20:56 (UTC)no subject
Date: 25 August 2019 01:53 (UTC)